Christmas Without Cancer Committee Members Create Clever Raffle

Christmas Without Cancer volunteer MaryPat Heisterman wishes her Thursday nights were busy again.

The Evergreen Park resident has been a key player in the success of Christmas Without Cancer's local Oak Lawn fundraiser, which was halted abruptly in March during the pandemic.

Heisterman, a long time volunteer, relished in her role at Saint James Place in Oak Lawn, where the family-owned establishment hosted Queen of Hearts week after week, building a large sum earmarked for families fighting cancer. By power of elimination, a single winner would have been named by now, and the rest of the money would have been distributed to local families. That money for “need” items sits in an account while cancer families struggle with bills.

Huge, highly-publicized, monetary gifts from celebrities and billionaires are for others, the long-standing institutions combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. Heisterman's Christmas Without Cancer is not like other charities and nonprofits caught in the struggle.

Christmas Without Cancer’s celebrities are Heisterman's neighbors in Evergreen Park, as well as as friends in Oak Lawn, Beverly/Morgan Park, Mount Greenwood and beyond. They are the people worried about their own family budget, but responding to the call to help local families.

Heisterman and Christmas Without Cancer are not waiting, but rather using its their creativity and their appeal to community members who small raffle ticket investment goes a long way.

Heisterman is one of 18 committee members who donated valued items to completely fill a movie-sized poster frame, showcasing $100 bills, American Express, VISA and MasterCard gift cards, lottery tickets and other valued items exceeding $1,000 face value. Raffle tickets are being sold for the poster, which included $500 cash; $350 credit card gift cards and $200 in lottery tickets, which could reap its own rewards.

The committee members figured it was their opening to lead the charge for Christmas Without Cancer founder and president Gerri Neylon and vice president Renee Copeland, who went live last month to launch the raffle campaign.

"Gerri and Renee did an excellent job," said Heisterman, who has long supported Christmas Without Cancer monetarily and through volunteer efforts."I loved the new idea of of going on air but, never in a million years would I be tech savvy enough to be able to do that and then go on Facebook live."

Maybe not, but Heisterman can follow her heart and make a difference.

Christmas Without Cancer, an organization started by Neylon, comes to the rescue of those impacted by cancer. The Evergreen Park volunteer group identifies needs and such things as utility bills and mortgage payments, gas, parking and children in need of wrapped presents.Copeland has taken the grassroots organization into today's competing arenas in which technology, especially in these strange times, is the commerce of the day.

"Cancer doesn't slow down," said Julie Sullivan, one of Christmas Without Cancer's new committee members, who, along with her husband Joe, helps expand the organization's reach into Mokena.

Sullivan's Oak Brook Mechanical HVAC operation helped sponsor the 2019 Christmas Without Cancer 5K Walk/Run, which is now being recreated as a virtual run.

Ticket sales will end Sunday, June 14 at noon; the winner will be announced at 7 that evening via Facebook live.

For more information or to purchase raffle tickets, visit: https://myevent.com/ChristmasWithoutCancerNFPSpecialtyRaffle